Darryn Peterson could become Kansas basketball’s first No. 1 NBA draft pick since 2014

Darryn Peterson’s name reaching the top of the NBA draft would mean more than one player getting his shot. For Kansas basketball, it would be a brand-defining moment, the kind that echoes in Lawrence, across Douglas County and through every recruiting conversation Bill Self’s staff has with the next elite guard.

The Washington Wizards won the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery and hold the No. 1 pick, putting Peterson in position to become the first Jayhawk chosen No. 1 overall since Andrew Wiggins in 2014. ESPN reported April 24 that Peterson had declared for the draft and was expected to be among the first three selections, while draft chatter has kept him and former BYU forward AJ Dybantsa near the center of the debate all week.

The draft began June 23 at 7 p.m. Central time at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, with Round 1 set for 8 p.m. Eastern on ABC and ESPN and Round 2 scheduled for June 24 at 8 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. If Peterson goes first, he joins a small Kansas class of players whose pro futures were written at the very top of the board. If he slips just one spot, he still becomes one of the highest-drafted Jayhawks in recent memory.

Kansas signed Peterson on Nov. 13, 2024, and called him the consensus No. 3 recruit in the nation. The Big 12 later named him its preseason freshman of the year for 2025-26, pointing to a 30.4-point scoring average at Napa Christian High School. ESPN listed him as a 6-foot-6, 185-pound combo guard from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, while KU’s roster bio notes he wears No. 22 because his father wore that number in high school.

The honor roll around Peterson is already crowded. Kansas announced March 7, 2025, that he had won the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Boys High School Player of the Year award, making him only the third Jayhawk to claim it, after Wiggins in 2013 and Cliff Alexander in 2014. That same lineage is what gives this draft moment its weight in Lawrence: Wiggins was the last Kansas player to go No. 1, after one season in which he played 35 games and averaged 17.1 points and 5.9 rebounds.

For Kansas, a No. 1 pick would reinforce the program’s standing as a destination for top-tier NBA talent and add another selling point in the NIL era. For Lawrence, it would be another reminder that the Jayhawks’ biggest summer stories do not stay in the gym on campus. They travel to Brooklyn, to the league’s top stage, and back into the recruiting pitch for the next star who wants the same path.